Fighting Is Not Self Defence

I read the following post on Facebook today by Kevin O’Hagan, one of the Worlds best teachers of Reality Based Martial Arts. It sums things up so well that I thought I’d share it with you:-

“I read alot of posts on facebook these days about the age old question,’What is the most practical and effective fighting system. I hear shouts for Krav Maga, BJJ, boxing, Thai etc etc.

One of the things we must take into consideration is fighting is not self defence.Fighting or having a fight is about two participants agreeing to engage in mutual combat.

Self defence is about one party minding their own business getting on with life when unfortunately violence comes their way unexpectedly. These are two totally different things. If you are prone to fighting in the street you will have a very short shelf life. You will either be spending a good percentage of your life behind bars or eventually six feet under. Self defence can be split into two distinct areas. Confrontational and ambush. That’s it. A match fight is not in the equation.

In self defence if the situation warrants physical response and isn’t dealt with in 3 seconds it will deteriorate into a type of match fight but that is a rarity. Normally the first person to land a shot wins.

Self defence isn’t about sparring up and feeling out your attacker before you launch your deadly attack, it is about somebody sucker punching you in the head before you even know it, or pushing a glass in your face or a knife in your guts. There will be no posturing and twirling of the weapon or any bad ass dialogue before this happens.

It is about somebody grabbing you around the neck whilst you are checking your Iphone.

It is about being chasing down and having a pack of animals kick ten bells out of you.

In the world of match fighting it has been proved beyond doubt the big boys that stand up under pressure are boxing, wrestling, Thai and BJJ/submission wrestling. Why? Because they are mainly practised as combat sports.

Self defence is situational and scenario driven. It is a totally different world. Its not to say these combat arts can’t make the change over but they need to be adapted greatly. This is a huge topic on its own.

Having a row outside the chip shop or pub isn’t and never will be self defence if you have willingly engaged and not tried to find another solution.

Teaching self defence and teaching fighting are not the same thing”.

If anybody is interested in real world self defence, I’d highly recommend that you “like” Kevin’s page to find out when he runs his seminars. I might well meet you there!